BANGALORE: Despite all the talk about ecommerce's threat to brick-and-mortar players, many small retailers are benefitting from selling on online marketplaces, which not only provide a platform but also coach them with the required computer skills.

As they compete to attract more sellers on their platforms, Snapdeal, Flipkart, Amazon and eBay are coaching small traders on how to use a computer, send emails, click a photo and upload products as well as more complex tasks such as warehousing and inventory management.

These portals are using digital literacy as a bait to draw in more sellers to the booming ecommerce marketplace.

"We will begin offline classroom programmes by the end of this month in top Indian cities," said Saurabh Goyal, head of logistics at Snapdeal, which already has over 20,000 registered online sellers on its platform.

"At present we don't on board a seller online till we have imparted training through video as well as written communication. A seller has to then successfully pass a quiz to go online," he said. Snapdeal raised funding of Rs 802 crore in February led by eBay.

The US-based website which has registered 30,000 Indian sellers on its marketplace conducts two webinars every week on how to sell online. "From how to take a picture to how to create a listing, manage ratings, feedbacks, store and fee calculator, every aspect of selling on eBay is covered," said Malini Sharma, trend watcher for eBay India.

In Bangalore, market leader Flipkart plans to expand its training modules to include areas such as warehousing and inventory management. The latest entrant to India's Rs 12,000-crore online retail industry, Amazon has set up a small business accelerator with teams spread across major cities to help more merchants get online.

Experts said such training is mandatory in a marketplace, where multiple sellers directly hawk products to consumers, using the technology offered by these large portals. "I see a lot of growth opportunities in companies that use technology to bring together two sides in amarket place and organise chaos," said Kartik Hosanagar, associate professor of internet commerce at the Wharton Business School.

The Internet and Mobile Association of India estimates that close to 10 lakh retailers now sell apparel, jewellery, electronics and books online in the country.

"Our goal is to basically evangelise traders to come online and grab the Indian ecommerce opportunity," said eBay's Sharma whose company has also created a 'learn-to-sell' training manual, now available in six Indian languages. It also offers a toll-free helpline number for sellers who get stuck anywhere during the process of selling online.

Most sellers ET spoke to said that they are comfortable with computers, but do call or take help when they get stuck. "eBay helps us place our products better with inputs on quality of images, how to ensure timely fulfilment of orders and improving customer feedback," said Neha Shah, chief marketing officer of online lingerie retailer ShopImagine, which gets a quarter of its sales from eBay and Snapdeal.

Digital outreach also helps small merchants get crucial information on how competitors are pricing products and how their own inventory can be managed better. "We train sellers in areas such as writing effective catalogue and image guidelines, managing speedy deliveries and using quality packaging," said Ankit Nagori, a vice president at Flipkart which grossed $1 billion in sales this March.

Bangalore-based Hysteria, a retail store which sells toy bobbleheads, comic figurines, t shirts, movie posters and phone covers earns a fifth of its monthly revenue from Flipkart and about 7% from Amazon. "We get a lot of information from marketplaces about the trends," said Hysteria cofounder Rakesh Kumar who said his company uses data analytics provided by Amazon.

The global retailer which began its Indian operations last June with 100 sellers in 2 categories has now expanded to more than 4,000 sellers across 21 categories.

"The SMB Accelerator helps sellers set up an account, manage inventory and payments and also teaches business analytics,' said Amit Deshpande, general manager at Amazon India Such outreach programmes are also aimed at getting more small-town retailers onto the ecommerce bandwagon. "We call the internet firms, in case our payments get stuck," said S Sweekar, founder of Apic Online a home furnishings retailer from Panipat who sells about 1,000 products every month on Snapdeal and online marketplace Shopclues.